Back to roots

A few weeks ago, I had a dental check-up and my dentist was horrified to discover from the x-ray that I had an enormous hole in the side of one of my bottom back molar teeth right at gum level. In the photo above, you can just make out the hole at gum level, where the arrow points to. It begs the question why she had not discovered it before, considering I have annual check-ups usually with an x-ray. Either she had missed it before or it had grown impressively since the last check-up. She was so horrified at the size of the hole that she said her opinion was it would have to be extracted. That would be the third tooth I would have lost in as many years. She was surprised it was causing me no pain. She did mention it might be saved by having root canal work done on it, where they remove the pulp in the tooth and fill it to avoid infection. She would need to first consult her endodontist for their opinion. Unfortunately her endodontist recommended extraction too.

Now at the mention of root canals and endodontists, I informed her that my son-in-law, Darcy,  is an endodontist and I would consult him. His opinion was that he thought the tooth could be saved with root canal work and that my dentist's endodontist lacked the experience and letters after their name to cope with complex cases, whereas Darcy has been doing it for the last 8 years. Darcy is extremely passionate about his work and had received many prizes for his expertise.

Darcy does not work at one dental practice, as no one place has enough customers requiring root canal work for five full days a week, so he works at many practices, maybe one day a week or even one day every two weeks in a wide location of practices. One that he does every week is in Canterbury and he has in the recent past done the boss a favour by doing a root canal procedure on the boss' mum for no charge at all. (Root canals can cost anything from about £1,000 or more). So when he offered to try to save my tooth for free, the boss was happy to return the favour. It meant I had to go down to Canterbury and I decided I would make a small holiday out of it by going down to Canterbury the day before and staying overnight in a hotel just round the corner from the dental surgery, so I could easily be there for the 09.30 appointment the next morning. The alternative was getting up at silly o'clock for a hearty breakfast and leaving London at 06.30 to arrive in Canterbury in time. What with the heatwave and the prospect of a three-hour procedure and not being able to eat for a while afterwards, while the swelling settled, it seemed sensible to make life as easy as possible for me.

I know it seems a little weird having your son-in-law peering into your mouth and doing a procedure, but if it saved the tooth and avoided an extraction, it was worth a try. And it's for free!

I duly travelled down by train to Canterbury on Thursday and tried to do a bit of sightseeing, but it was way too hot and the town was full of raucous teenagers celebrating or commiserating their A-level results.  After a wander to see some of the sights and the amazing old buildings, I scurried back to my hotel for an early evening meal and an early night.

Entrance to the Cathedral grounds

The next day I met up with my son-in-law who did the three-hour procedure to first fill the hole on the side of my tooth and then drill down the roots to remove the pulp and fill them. It was not helped when, towards the end, the suction machine overheated and refused to work, even with several attempts to restart it, so I had to transfer to another room upstairs for the procedure to be finished. So the tooth is saved and I can't wait to tell my usual dentist - maybe she should employ my son-in-law as her endodontist! 

In other news, in an attempt to help Kay weed her garden earlier this week, I managed to rip half my thumbnail off its bed. Long story, but the pain was indescribable and blood everywhere. Kay helped me clean it up and bandage it. A friend commented the next day whether my tetanus vaccines were up to date. I had to fill in an online form with my GP to ask when the last vaccine was and to my horror it was 2009. Within 2 hours of my online form, I had a text message to attend the surgery within the next 45 minutes before the staff went home to get a tetanus booster. My favourite GP did the vaccination which included diphtheria and polio too so I am covered for at least the next ten years.